Symbols allow us to store information outside of the physical brain. This creates for us a relationship to the past very different from that of our animal companions. Finally, we must add to any analysis of the human picture the notion of self‑directed modification of activity. We are able to modify our behavior patterns based on a symbolic analysis of past events, in other words, through history. Through our ability to store and recover information as images and written records, we have created a human environment as much conditioned by symbols and languages as by biological and environmental factors.

• symbols
• memory
• learning
• behavior
• personal history
• language
• humanity
• evolution
• self
• relationship
• past
• history
• environment
• activity
• analysis
• other
• patterns